Kobe Bryant: The Fallacy Of All-Star Berths, Hall Of Fame

The first returns in the voting for the NBA All-Star Game created a stir, as retiring Kobe Bryant leads the pack.

The NBA on Christmas morning released the first wave of voting results for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game and the hand-wringing began shortly thereafter.

Leading the way among all players was Kobe Bryant, the soon-to-be-retiring, 37-year-old one-time superstar who is limping to the finish line of his Hall of Fame career with a shooting slash line of .347/.256/.779 this season.

The NBA purists are aghast—Kobe Bryant doesn’t “deserve” to be an All-Star, they whine. Kobe Bryant being an All-Star “ruins the integrity of the All-Star Game,” they cry. Kobe Bryant being an All-Star will ultimately hurt the Hall of Fame candidacy of a more deserving player, some opine.

Wait, what?

Let’s take those one at a time, because the first two are fairly easily dismissed.

1) Kobe Bryant Doesn’t ‘Deserve’ To Be An All-Star

2) Kobe Bryant Being An All-Star Ruins The Integrity Of The All-Star Game

Ah, yes … the integrity of the All-Star Game, a thing very much worthy of protection.

That is, if it existed at all.

The All-Star Game: The game in which defense is more of an idle thought than a fundamental, the game in which the goal of its participants is to (a) not get hurt and (b) have some sort of signature moment that will sell some merchandise down the line.

Here is the NBA’s own highlight reel of the 10 best plays in All-Star Game history:

Were you impressed by the defensive rotations? The ball movement? The way guys were moving without the basketball?

I kid, of course.

There is a notion among fans that all-star games, in any sport, are some sort of sacrosanct ideal. Considering any hamster able to run on a mouse can click to its heart’s content while voting for someone’s favorite player, how sacrosanct is the process … really?

The NBA turned the voting over to the fans more than 40 years ago, in 1975. Since that time, just 17 players have led the league in voting:

Michael Jordan—nine times.
Vince Carter and Julius Erving—four times each.
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James—three times apiece.
George Gervin, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Magic Johnson and Yao Ming—two times each
Charles Barkley, Rick Barry, Stephen Curry, Kevin Garnett, Moses Malone, Bob McAdoo and David Thompson—once apiece.

That looks to be a fairly eclectic mix of all-time greats and flavors du jour.

Barkley, for his part, is not a fan of fans having the vote, based on this statement from 2014:

Charles Barkley on why he doesn't like fans voting for All-Star: "Just bc you watch Grey's Anatomy doesn't mean you can do an operation."
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) December 19, 2014

But here’s the thing: The game is a popularity contest. It’s a showcase for the fans.

It is not the Holy Grail, handed down from King Arthur himself to only the worthiest of the worthy (apologies to James Worthy).

The Hall Of Fame? Really? We’re Going There?

But to throw the Hall of Fame into the mix is nothing but a straw man argument.

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The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is full of players great and pretty good and is full of players who got in without regard to the number of times they were selected by fans to play in the All-Star Game.

This is no offense to Jamaal Wilkes’ contributions to the NBA game, but there really was never a time when I watched him play (and I was actually around for his entire career) that I ever thought, “That’s a Hall of Fame player there, sure hope he gets enough All-Star appearances to make it.”

For the record, Wilkes was named to three All-Star Games in his 12 NBA seasons.

So whichever player winds up not starting in Toronto on Feb. 14 will not likely have his Hall of Fame chances damaged in any way.

Whichever player is excluded from the Western Conference roster because Bryant is there probably won’t be screaming from the top of a bell tower about Kobe being voted an All-Star in 2016 when he falls short in Hall of Fame balloting 15 or 20 years from now.

One final point about the All-Star Game relative to the Hall of Fame: Jamaal Magloire, All-Star.

Hall of Famer? Not so much with that. So OK then.

As of the early voting, Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs is fourth among Western frontcourt players (Bryant is considered a small forward this year) and would be the odd player out of the starting lineup.

Leonard had 164,521 votes as of the first release of results—a scant 554,714 less than Bryant.

I sincerely doubt that anyone in 2015-16 thinks Kobe Bryant is a better player—right now—than Kawhi Leonard.

More hoops habit: NBA Draft: Best Player Ever Selected in all 60 Spots

They just want to see the old guy suit up in an All-Star Game one last time. If that doesn’t make Bryant “deserving” of the honor, it could just mean you take the whole All-Star process a tad too seriously.